Depthswalker vs. Shaman

Kalm

So, I've been playing for a while now as a Depthswalker and I kind of like it. The aesthetic is what drew me in to begin with. But, Shaman also looked pretty cool from an aesthetic point of view, and seeing what I can in-game, I think it would be fun to play. I basically get how both classes work, but it's a pretty shallow look at them.

I don't really know which would be a better class to play as in the long run. I'm not going to be able to invest heavily into the game, not for a while, and I wanted to get some people's opinions on these classes, from a more mechanical perspective (not so much the aesthetics). Sort of how they compare. I don't really want to create another character to test Shaman a bunch, so I'm hoping people can give me some perspective.

Antidas

Gonna be very dependent on what you like to do. Are you a basher? Are you looking to get into PvP in the future? Maybe you play entirely for the RP and don't give a shit about either pve or pvp? Give us an idea, and we can go from there.

Kalm

Antidas said:

Gonna be very dependent on what you like to do. Are you a basher? Are you looking to get into PvP in the future? Maybe you play entirely for the RP and don't give a shit about either pve or pvp? Give us an idea, and we can go from there.

Bashing and PvP both. Mostly I'm looking for insight into what the classes are sort of like tri-trans. General impressions of how they feel.

Kiet

They're both good at solo or group pvp, both deal afflictions, and both have a lot of group utility. DW is a lot better at ganking  people who don't wanna fight.

I dunno if you have more specific questions, but they're both similar enough and different enough that it's hard to compare them without giving you like a complete overview of each class, which maybe someone will wanna do.

Ankhareoutef

When it comes to PK, both classes serve a different type of path. Depthswalker is a momentum class. This means your goal is to overwhelm your opponent before they kill you by applying pressure in the form of afflictions, health damage, and mana damage. Shaman is a prep class. This means you’re going to spend some time setting up for a kill and then executing your enemy with a specific sequence. There’s an argument that shaman can be played as a momentum class, and up to a certain skill cap it can be more than viable that way. However, once you pass that point, you’ll need to use dolls in some form to secure a kill.

Dochitha

PvE wise, shaman hunting is better than depthswalker. 

PvP wise, if both of players are of same skill, say Dochitha vs Dochitha, I would imagine shaman to win. 

Group wise both are strong but I'd imagine DW gets targeted first, so DW is better but Shaman rezz has been a huge topic. 

DW overwhelms in combat. Shaman can accurately afflict and also can prep, which is really strong. But, DW can kill people who doesn't want to fight, easily. Shaman can do that too but you will need a lot of very good response and Chase to do so. 

Aralaya

I'm not very knowledgeable on Shaman so I'll just talk about DW.
The one thing I really like about DW is that you can push towards both of your kill paths at the same time (up to a point) and it isn't overly punishing if you need to change to one or the othwr.

Ankhareoutef

Aralaya said:

I'm not very knowledgeable on Shaman so I'll just talk about DW.
The one thing I really like about DW is that you can push towards both of your kill paths at the same time (up to a point) and it isn't overly punishing if you need to change to one or the othwr.

This is true of many classes, too.

Antonius

One of the huge things Depthswalker has in its favour is the role it was intended to fill, specifically providing some pretty core abilities that were previously factional to everybody. As a result it has a huge number of utility and combat abilities.

Ankhareoutef

Antonius said:

One of the huge things Depthswalker has in its favour is the role it was intended to fill, specifically providing some pretty core abilities that were previously factional to everybody. As a result it has a huge number of utility and combat abilities.

And is fucking amazing.

(But so is Shaman)

Asthor

I am choosing between the same two classes. I am only interested in PvP, and will have around 5k credits. Which class is easiest to learn to be at least decent in 1 vs 1? 

Solnir

Easiest to learn is DW by far. Shaman is very intricate. They are both great in 1v1 (Shaman slightly  moreso), but as said previously, Shaman has no way to lock down an opponent so if you're planning to fight people who don't like fighting back often Shaman will give you a little more of a headache.

Kalm

I went with Depthswalker in the end. Maybe, in some distant future where I can afford to multiclass, I'll take up Shaman. But yeah, from everything I've heard, I'm going to enjoy DW more.

Thanks everyone who helped me here.

Alyxeri

Solnir said:

Easiest to learn is DW by far. Shaman is very intricate. They are both great in 1v1 (Shaman slightly  moreso), but as said previously, Shaman has no way to lock down an opponent so if you're planning to fight people who don't like fighting back often Shaman will give you a little more of a headache.

Depthswalker dookies Shaman 1v1. They're both pretty damn good, tho.

Dochitha

Alyxeri said:

Solnir said:

Easiest to learn is DW by far. Shaman is very intricate. They are both great in 1v1 (Shaman slightly  moreso), but as said previously, Shaman has no way to lock down an opponent so if you're planning to fight people who don't like fighting back often Shaman will give you a little more of a headache.

Depthswalker dookies Shaman 1v1. They're both pretty damn good, tho.

Shaman is #2 pvp class, after DWB.

[edit:] correction, Retsha #1.

Solnir

Alyxeri said:

Solnir said:

Easiest to learn is DW by far. Shaman is very intricate. They are both great in 1v1 (Shaman slightly  moreso), but as said previously, Shaman has no way to lock down an opponent so if you're planning to fight people who don't like fighting back often Shaman will give you a little more of a headache.

Depthswalker dookies Shaman 1v1. They're both pretty damn good, tho.

I was saying that against most classes, Shaman will be slightly better in 1v1 than a DW would against those same classes. Not Shaman vs DW. Though I do agree with you that DW stomps Shaman pretty regularly (obv depending on player skill).